Easy Come, Easy Go
by persevera
Summary: Continuation of Damily. Damian has to contend with more people than just Emily in his campaign to continue relationship with her-"We're not supposed to get what we want, just what we've earned."
1. Determined

_a/n The pact is my theory of how that many attractive kids could be isolated for so long and form no romantic attachments. I imagine the agreement being made after Emily's elimination_

* * *

><p>Damian reluctantly opened his eyes as the cab stopped in front of his apartment building. He had been reliving his weekend, thinking of Emily-dressed and undressed, vulnerable then sassy, tantalizing yet frustratingly resistant.<p>

He'd been formulating plans that would bring her back to Los Angeles. He figured he could allow two weeks for her return, before he would have to fly to New York and camp on her doorstep, if necessary. He was determined to finally refute whatever reason she had for thinking she wasn't right for him, or vice versa.

"Therapy, my ass," he said as he approached his door, thinking of how Emily had classified their time together. "That girl doesn't know it yet but she has a lot of therapy and dates and more than weekends with me ahead of her. No one gives me so much then takes it away."

With that he opened his door and saw his roommate Cameron at his keyboard. "Hey, bro," Cameron asked, "how was the fishing?"

"Uh, yeah," Damian answered, "give me a few minutes. We'll talk about it."

"A simple 'they weren't biting' would do," Cameron called as Damian shut his bedroom door.

He moved to his bedside table where his Cowboy Woody doll sat. He placed the hula dancer figurine that Emily had given him next to it. "Meet Little Emily," he said to the doll. "She's not as hot as my Emily but she can change your life."

He stretched out on his bed and imagined her next to him. Out of curiosity and a desire to see her again, he got his laptop and found The Glee Project website.

In the bonus video section, he found the clip she had mentioned where he had been staring rather intently at her, except that the camera didn't show them both in the same shot so the only way to know was to follow his sight line, compared to the position of the rest of the contestants/friends in the dorm room. It helped that the clip returned to Emily and her cleavage more than once. "The editor must have liked the view too," said Damian.

He next found the video of the conversation in the dorm room during Episode Four where he had mentioned that he had thought she was the best singer among the girls. Samuel then commented that she would have been so good for that current Danceability challenge. "Mmmm, Emily doing the booty pop," Damian nearly growled to himself, thinking that he'd have to request that the next time he saw her. "No way I can wait two weeks."

Still not satisfied, he reviewed portions of the first three episodes of the show before her untimely elimination.

"You've learned a lot about what a leprechaun can do, Darlin'," he said to the screen, as he watched the section where Emily had critiqued his dancing.

He continued his Emily montage with the mentors' discussion before the announcement of the last chance performers, where she had admitted her bravado and flirtatiousness were to mask her insecurities. He watched her performance and her response to Ryan Murphy's words that he understood her and her mechanism for self-protection. His lips involuntarily puckered in response to the air kiss she threw the judges on her exit.

Just then he heard familiar voices in the living room. He took some bills from his reserve cash and went in to talk to Samuel and Bryce.

Cameron was in the kitchen getting refreshments.

"Well, fancy the two of you showing up here," Damian said with a little hostility, still not comfortable with their part in arranging the tryst with Emily.

"You need to drop the attitude," Bryce said. "We don't want a blow-by-blow account, excuse the expression. We just want to know that everything and everyone is okay or maybe even great."

"Sorry," Damian answered in a nicer tone. "Better than great."

He handed the money to Samuel. "This should cover everything," he said shortly.

Samuel shook his head. "Nah, it's too much. You're just reimbursing, not paying for anything," he said, eyeing Damian meaningfully.

Damian nodded in agreement.

"Here, Bryce," Sam said, handing him a portion of the money," that's for your expenses." He gave the remainder back to Damian. "The rest we'll just consider a wash between two tv stars."

"Right," Damian agreed, glad to have that concluded.

Cameron returned with a tray at that moment. "What's going on?" he asked.

Damian was anxious to get this part out of the way also. "Obviously Samuel and I didn't go fishing," he began. "I spent the weekend with Emily Vasquez." On the sofa, Sam and Bryce shared a high five.

"It was incredible," Damian continued. "She's unbelievable. I want her to feel welcome here. I know it'll take some getting used to for you. We can be…intense. But she's impossible not to love so I know she'll win you over. I'm sorry that we lied to you and I don't want to do that again. As long as you can accept this, everything should be fine."

He held out his hand for Cameron to shake in agreement but the older boy just looked down on it coldly then turned that look on each of the three in the room.

"Do you mean," he began in a low, measured tone, "that you went away with someone we all like just for sex? And you two were involved," he continued, looking in the direction of the sofa. "And what was all that talk about money? You've turned her into a…"

"Don't say it," Cameron, Damian warned. "You can rant as much as you want at us but watch what you say about Emily."

"Why, because now you're worried about her honor?" Cameron's voice rose with his anger.

His words hit Damian like a slap in the face. He respected Cameron's opinion. Had he dishonored Emily? He had allowed her to set the pace in the beginning, responding to her, rather than initiating. But the strength of his reaction might have been overwhelming. Maybe that's why she had held back emotionally and put up her guard when he had tried to talk to her about continuing a relationship.

Also he had to face the fact that he hadn't been up front with her. Emily had been there, believing he had been abstinent for so long that it was affecting him mentally and physically. It actually hadn't been that long but his desire for her had been so immediate and strong, he hadn't clarified that when she'd arrived with Samuel and offered herself as a….He sat down and dropped his head ashamedly.

He looked up at his best friend almost pleadingly. "You gotta help me, Cameron. How do I make this right? I want her so much. I want to be good for her."

Cameron softened a little, seeing Damian's distress. "We're not supposed to get what we want, just what we've earned. What have you done to deserve something good to come out of this? You acted selfishly and recklessly. You didn't think about anyone else.

On that point Damian would defend himself. "That's not true," he said, "I was very considerate of Emily the whole time."

"I'm not talking about that and I don't want to hear about it," interrupted Cameron. "I'm talking about other people who would be affected by what you've done."

"Who?" Damian asked.

"Aside from your brushing off lying to me," Cameron said, "what about Hannah?"

Damian looked confused. "What does she have to do with it?"

Cameron gave him a disgusted look. "You're not so clueless that you don't know she still loves you, are you? Or do you just not care?"

"But she said she got over that crush a long time ago."

"Yeah, that's what she said. How was she supposed to get over it?" Cameron continued. "You didn't stop seeing her because you enjoyed her company. Is she seeing anyone else? Are you any less cute than you were?" he asked with a sneer.

"She's visiting Lindsay right now and hoped to see you. This is really going to hurt her," he said, pacing around the room. "Lindsay will side with her. Matheus will be stuck in the middle..."

He stopped his pacing and looked down at Damian. "Man, how could you forget about the pact?"

"Wait a minute, Cameron," said Samuel. "The pact was for the run of the competition to keep us from complicating things with hookups."

Cameron nodded. "Yeah and it's worked pretty well since the competition too so that we've all been able to root for each other and work on each other's projects. Who knows how that will change. It's all a mess just so you could have what you wanted," he said eyeing the younger man accusingly.

"You might be right about that," Damian said. "I know you're right that something as great as having Emily needs to be earned. I'll do whatever I can to make things okay for everyone, but I'll settle for making it good for her because that's what matters to me most."

Cameron went to his room, still muttering about selfishness and "taking advantage".

"He might know what he's talking about on your being selfish but don't listen to him about your taking advantage of Emily," said Bryce. "You tell a woman today she can't make her own decisions about her body and her sex life, and you'll never see her naked again."

Damian gave him a dark look, which Bryce answered with a withering one.

"Give it a rest, Damian," he said. "You saw Emily naked, you touched her naked. And with everything we did to make it happen, there better have been a hell of a lot more. You're worried about being selfish, think about Samuel and me. You'll never tell us anything about probably the hottest time you'll ever have so we can only imagine what she was like through your innocent boy mindset. You better not screw this up," he admonished as he stood up and headed for the door.

Damian stared after his friend. "Wow" was all he could think to say at the moment.

Samuel stood and said "Yeah, sometimes we don't know who our actions will affect, huh? Listen, I feel bad about Hannah too. I'm going to tell her about my involvement in this tomorrow morning and you can talk to her a little later."

"Yeah, I'm going to need some time to think of what to say to her," Damian said, opening the door for Samuel.

Bryce was standing outside the door waiting for Sam.

"Hey, Bryce," said Damian, "we went through a whole box of condoms and she got off at least twice for every one of 'em, plus some extra times."

Bryce put his hand to his heart and staggered back a little as if he'd been struck.

"She said I was motivational," continued Damian. "She screamed m' name…lots" he said to the retreating figures.

"Die in Hell, McGinty," Bryce called back, still sauntering away.

"Cute strawberry birthmark in a place you'll never see," Damian added, enjoying twisting the knife now.

Samuel and Bryce both turned and flipped him off, as he stood in the doorway, wearing a huge smile.

He closed and locked the door and turned out lights, heading toward his bedroom suite for his long-forfeited shower.

As he pulled his sweater over his head, he got a whiff of something familiar.

Sniffing the sweater, he found the scent of Emily and her perfume, spicy and sweet, in the fibers. He also found a couple of long black hairs. Grinning, he remembered how it felt when she had pulled the sweater over her head and run her nose and lips across his chest, absorbing his scent. The strands must have pulled out then.

Holding the sweater, he wondered what an unsentimental guy like himself does when something random takes on meaning and specialness. Rather than tossing it in the laundry, he hung it on his closet door, a la Brokeback Mountain, and placed Emily's hairs across it. Then, humming Need You Now, he moved to his bathroom.


	2. Regretful

In her room Emily turned on her desktop computer and opened the folder marked GOALS. Since she had been a young girl, she had set goals for herself and made extensive lists on steps necessary to achieve them. Since she'd had a computer, she had compiled the information for her goals in separate files.

She had a file marked CRUISE, which detailed her efforts to send her mother on a Caribbean cruise, including itineraries, information on sales for vacation clothes, the name of the travel agent with whom she had flirted to get the best possible deal and the pictures of her mother and her new friends from the ship. Across the file was stamped the words "Mission Accomplished".

The next file was marked SLEAZEBAGS. It contained dossiers on the industry people who had shamefully used Emily in the past. Under one individual's name was the information which Emily had collected then supplied to law enforcement and the subsequent newspaper story of his imprisonment for embezzlement. That file was also marked "Mission Accomplished".

She opened her newest file which was titled The Damian Project.

Its first entry was an email from her friend Alex, another former contender and runner-up from The Glee Project, after he had been filming his scenes in Los Angeles.

_Cutie Pie Damian isn't so cute anymore,_ he had written. _He looks tired. I don't think he's taking very good care of himself. He must miss his Mam._

Emily and Alex had then exchanged a few more emails, talking about his LA experience and their West Coast friends.

Alex brought the subject back to Damian. _I've always thought the two of you would be good together," he said, "Get a little Damily action goin'._

_Hmmm,_ Emily had responded. _Nah, he's cute but just a kid._

_Junior and I are at our sexual peak. (Sigh),_ continued Alex. _Men are at their most potent in the late teens and early twenties and women don't reach their peak until 30 (Look it up). If anything, honey, you're too young for him. Besides, you should see these video clips of Damo. He looks more mature and swa-vay than we ever saw him…like a young Dean Martin (YUM),_ concluded Alex.

He sent a clip of Damian's performance from a benefit for which he'd performed solo. After viewing that a few times, Emily had added more.

She then began compiling lists—pros and cons of contacting Damian directly, what she hoped to achieve from making contact, alternative strategies that didn't leave her quite so exposed.

The file contained the first emails she exchanged with Bryce and Samuel where she had led the conversation around to Damian and, after a couple of weeks of subtly directing the discussion but making it appear she was only responding, she asked the crucial question…"Are you saying he needs a woman?"

In this file lay the reason for Emily's resistance to Damian.

She continued reading, becoming more ashamed at the way she had manipulated Samuel and Bryce into thinking the idea of Damian's needing a sexual intervention was theirs and because of the criteria for a partner that she'd carefully laid out for them, she was the best choice.

There was the email where she had first expressed outrage when they timidly made that suggestion to her then relented.

"It's just so calculating and devious," Emily said to herself, "Damian would never understand. I still don't understand. Alex never mentioned it again after sending the video clips, so it's not like he was pushing me."

She felt the same confusion and compulsion she always felt when she opened this file. She should delete it but couldn't. Some of its contents meant too much to her. She couldn't close it with Mission Accomplished. She'd never really established her desired outcome and after the good-bye in the airport, things felt unfinished. The goal couldn't have been to make Damian want her and then let him down easily. She'd like to continue seeing him but knew she couldn't after her conniving.

She brushed away her tears of frustration. She opened the audio clip of Damian singing Falling Slowly and put it on a loop. She crawled into bed and, listening to the haunting vocal, fell into a fitful sleep.


	3. Hopeful

Damian was in the middle of a dream about Emily when his alarm went off at 4am, preset to watch a European football match. He got up and set the match to record and returned to bed.

Part of the reason he usually got what he wanted was that he was willing to make changes to achieve his goals. If his getting more sleep would make Emily happy and help to win her over, he was willing to modify some of his habits to do that. Now, where was he in that dream….

When he got up at a more reasonable hour, his first action was to send a text message to Emily.

_Morning, Beautiful. I haven't stopped thinking about you since the airport._

She received the message with a little thrill then sadness. She had to begin the process of slowly disconnecting from him. _Hey, Stud. Don't waste time thinking about me. Focus on your work. Your biggest fan._

He read that message with a grin. "Yeah, right, not think about her. But she's right. I need to concentrate on work."

Throughout the day he attempted numerous phone calls to her but she only answered once when she said she was about to go into a meeting and had to end the call abruptly.

Her responses to his text messages were cute but more impersonal than he wanted from her.

"So she's going to be stubborn," Damian said, "guess I'll have to double down on the charm. I'll give her a little space….after one more message."

His last text of the day read _Having dinner with Cameron. Have to convince you both we're good for each other. Hope to talk to you tomorrow._

Damian met Hannah for lunch on Tuesday. She had talked to Samuel by then and had heard from him about his and Bryce's concern for Damian that had led to the weekend encounter.

"You could have called me, Damian," she said.

He looked down at the table and shook his head. "I would never do that to you, Hannah."

"But you found someone you would do that to," she said, a little cattily.

"No," he answered looking up, "I found someone who makes me feel like I could jump over buildings."

In her hurt Hannah became more sarcastic. "And where did you find her, perfect-woman-dot-com? It is a her, isn't it?"

Damian hesitated a moment before answering. "It's Emily".

"Glee-otch Emily?" Hannah asked in surprise.

He rolled his eyes in disgust. Emily was one of the contenders whose edit from the show hadn't always been flattering. He wanted to defend her but didn't want to make this worse for Hannah so he just nodded.

"Well nothing to be done about that," she said. "It's practically Darwinian—the two most attractive from the herd getting together to improve the species. But I didn't think you were that shallow."

"It's not just her looks." Damian said, "She…enhances everything. You and I are too much alike to have that excitement together. It needs friction, not in a bad way, just something different."

He couldn't keep the adoration out of his voice as he talked about Emily. "Now that I've found that, I don't want to live without it and I want the same for you. And I want us to still be friends."

Hannah was quiet a moment then, shaking her head, rose from her chair. "Not everyone wants to jump over buildings. Some of us are happy to just stand and hold hands with someone that we can love and trust. I don't want to be friends right now…maybe later, after I've done a lot of thinking. I'd avoid Lindsay for a while if I were you. She's murderous and it'll only get worse when she hears who's causing your…friction."

"I'm sorry, Hannah," Damian said.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I had no claim on you. You haven't done anything but fall for someone who's probably going to break your heart. Maybe you can call me then."

Damian was unable to reach Emily Tuesday but in the evening received the first message she'd ever sent to his Twitter account, _Great show, big growth in dance._

This was more like Emily, teasing him with a public message with hidden meaning. His response was the equivalent of a wireless wink.

_Thanks. How was your trip?_

She answered _Memorable-can't be repeated._

In New York Emily was becoming increasingly despondent as she received and avoided Damian's communications, but figured it was her price to pay. She could almost feel the anger when her phone rang after that last message. She didn't answer and immediately received a text message, _What the hell does that mean?_

With a heavy sigh she wrote, _Some things are too good and special to try to make part of daily life. You have a great life and we have a great memory. Isn't that enough?_

Damian was shocked by that message. "Is she serious? Did she truly think I'd be satisfied with that? No, it isn't enough. I don't want a memory; I want her."

He knew it was a waste of time to call her so he sat down at his computer to compose an e-mail.

_Dear Emily,_  
><em>No, a memory isn't enough. That's for people who don't have a choice, like a couple being separated by war.<em>  
><em>The only thing that's separating us is a few miles and your defenses. I got through them enough to know that you care, at least more than a fourth or fifth cousin, and that's enough for me right now.<em>  
><em>I'm so anxious to see you again, hold you, and share a bed with you again. I can't believe you don't want the same thing. Don't you remember the joy and excitement, the intensity for each other? Are you really satisfied with just a memory of that, rather than having it again?<em>  
><em>Just tell me if there's someone else in the way. I'll buy him or her off if I have to.<em>  
><em>We were too good together not to continue. Just talk to me.<em>  
><em>I'll give you a little time to think about it. I miss you, Damian<em>


	4. Resolved

Emily cried when she received Damian's e-mail, but she'd cried more in the last few days than she had in some time. She added it to her Damian file. The words were so sweet and heart-felt and reminded her of the passion she'd found beneath the innocent boy exterior.

And the worst thing was that she knew now that he would have been receptive to her if she'd approached him honestly and not tried to be too cute by half with her stupid scheme. She had doomed any chance for a real relationship.

She got her support group, Alex and Marissa on a video conference and confessed everything.

"What am I going to do?" she asked them. "I was hoping he'd accept my explanation and move on but he hasn't and every time he calls or texts or anything, it makes me want him more and it's harder not to answer."

Marissa was shocked at the lengths Emily had gone to spend time with the younger boy.

Alex said, "I had no idea I could be so influential. Maybe I should go into politics."

"This isn't your fault, Alex," said Marissa. "This is all Emily's doing. And you still can't say why you did it, can you?" she said accusatorily to Emily.

"I don't know." Emily held her head in her hands in frustration. For some reason I couldn't get thoughts of him and me out of my head. Maybe it's because they've made his character such a dork. I just kept thinking that's not the Damian I know."

"I guess it doesn't hurt that he's a TV star now," Marissa threw out harshly.

"Give me a little credit, Marissa," Emily said. "We all know that if that's all I was interested in, I could just go to the theatre district and be in a Broadway star's dressing room in ten minutes."

She was quiet for a moment before continuing. "It's him. He's so young. He hasn't done the jerk things that a lot of guys end up doing and maybe never will. He's beautiful and sweet and, yes, there's the way he made me feel," she sighed.

"I expected fun and charming. I didn't know he'd also be attentive and responsive, commanding and generous and knowing what I wanted." She looked at them both, pleading for understanding. "He's an instinctive lover," she finished breathily.

"Whoo, is anyone else getting a little warm?" Alex asked, fanning himself.

Marissa looked more sympathetically at her friend. "Then tell him."

"I can't," Emily answered. "He wouldn't understand.

Alex piped in, "Give him a chance. He might."

Emily shook her head in resignation.

"Make it a bad news/good news thing," Marissa suggested. "I did something really stupid, but I love you."

"I don't know that I do," Emily said. "I know I loved being with him but that's not enough to risk his disgust. At least now he still has this ideal about me. Maybe it's best if we just leave it there."

Marissa nodded. "You need to stop everything. No more explanations or trying to let him down easy. Cut him off at the knees. He can heal. You're doing more damage to yourself right now.

Emily brushed that off. "I shouldn't expect a lot more after what I've done but I don't want to leave Damian thinking about and hoping for something that can't happen."

'But…" Alex began.

"Thanks guys," Emily said. "We'll talk again soon."

"Emily, wait…" Alex tried again but she had signed off.

"It's the right thing to do, Alex" Marissa said as she also signed off the conference.

Alex was left with a lone thought, "How can it be right if it's wrong for both of them? What have you done?" he said rolling his head back in agitation.

Emily found Damian's number on her phone and entered a block. She then switched to the recording of the duet they had sung, the only evidence of their weekend, other than the bracelet that he'd given her, which was dangling from her wrist. In preparing for bed, she automatically opened Damian's file then closed it. This was the first adjustment she'd have to make after finally deciding there was no chance for them—trying to sleep without his crooning as a lullaby.

_**PISSED**_

By Friday morning Damian thought he'd given Emily enough time to think. He eagerly placed a call to her as he walked to the studio, then had to fight the impulse to catch the first flight to New York when he learned his number was blocked.

He walked more quickly now, anxious to talk to Samuel. "The only explanation I'll accept now is that she's secretly married with two kids," he said, breaking into a run.

About an hour later Alex had his laptop out, trying to figure what steps to take in straightening things out for Emily.

He received a call from an unidentified number.

"Alex, its Damian."

"Oh, Damian," Alex said in relief, "I'm so glad you've called. I wasn't sure what I should do first."

"Just start talkin', Alex," Damian said, his accent thicker with his impatience, "and don't even act like you don't know whaddimen."


End file.
